Moscow, December 21, 2006 - VTB today announces the consolidated IFRS financial results of VTB Group for the first nine months of 2006.

Rapid growth of VTB's performance indicators in the first nine months of 2006 was underpinned by further business expansion in Russia and abroad, against the backdrop of further development of Russia's economy. Restructuring of the Group's European arm, alongside with re-branding of the Group going forward, are expected to support business performance in the long run.

VTB Group's consolidated net profit for 9M2006 was U.S.$816 million, up 124.2%, another peak level in the Group's history. This increase was provided by a 102.8% growth in core revenue to U.S.$2,908 million. Net interest income rose by U.S.$545 million (82.0%), and net fee and commission income grew by U.S.$145 million (119.8%) as compared to 9M2005. Assets reached U.S.$48,955 million, up 33.3%, and net loans and advances to customers rose to U.S.$27,582 million, up 38.4%, supported by a 59.4% growth in customer deposits.

Financial Highlights

Assets and Funding (as compared to December 31, 2005):

Assets reached U.S.$48,955 million, up 33.3% or U.S.$12,232 million;

Loans and advances to customers rose to U.S.$27,582 million, an increase of U.S.$7,657 million or 38.4%, with retail loans up 136.0%;

VTB Group purchased 5% of shares of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company;

Profit before taxation was U.S.$934 million in 9M2006 compared to U.S.$495 million in 9M2005. The 88.7% increase was mainly driven by significant growth in net interest income, foreign exchange translation gains and increase in net fee and commission income, attributable to organic growth and 2005 acquisitions.

Net interest income grew to U.S.$1,210 million, which was attributable to growth in all the components of interest income. Interest income on loans and advances to customers increased by 95.7% to U.S.$2,020 million, interest income on securities grew by 97.2% to U.S.$351 million, interest on amounts due from other banks increased by 157.1%, totaling U.S.$234 million. The increase was due to expansion of the Group's lending business, particularly in the retail segment, growth of the Group's securities portfolio and also reflect the contribution of banks acquired in 2005.

Net spread decreased to 4.3% for 9M2006 from 4.4% for 9M2005. This decrease was consistent with continuously shrinking margins in the Russian market underpinned by further upgrade of Russia's sovereign ratings in 2005 and 3Q2006.

Operating income rose by 69.6% to U.S.$1,894 million, compared to U.S.$1,117 million for 9M2005, primarily due to growth of net interest income to U.S.$1,210 million, net gains from securities to U.S.$268 million, and net fee and commission income to U.S.$266 million, and foreign exchange translation gains to U.S.$253 million mainly attributable to the appreciation of the Russian rouble against the U.S. dollar in 9M2006.

Operating expenses were U.S.$960 million, up 54.3%, primarily attributable to addition of costs of banks acquired in December 2005, and also by organic expansion of the Group`s network in Russia, accompanied by increased expenditure on marketing and advertising as well as payments to the Deposit Insurance System in view of VTB Group retail expansion and corresponding growth in retail deposits.

Customer transactions remained key factor to business volume and core income growth, reflecting the Group's strategy oriented towards corporate, retail and investment banking. Customer loans stood at 56.3% of total assets as of September 30, 2006, compared to 54.3% as of December 31, 2005. Accordingly, interest income on customer loans comprised 77.5% of interest income (79.3% in 9M2005) and 69.5% of core revenue (72.0% in 9M2005). Total customer accounts rose by 59.4% to reach U.S.$20,352 million, of which accounts of individuals represented U.S.$6,420 million, corporate U.S.$10,486 million, and state and public U.S.$3,446 million.

Loan Quality and Concentration

The share of overdue and rescheduled loans in the gross loan portfolio amounted to 2.3% and allowances for loan impairment to 3.2%, of the gross loan portfolio as of September 30, 2006.

As the Group seeks to diversify its customer base and lending capacity, and sustains continuous lending volumes growth, the exposure to 10 largest borrowers as a percentage of gross customer loans decreased to 18.0% as of September 30, 2006 from 19.7% as of December 31, 2005.

Capitalization and Capital Adequacy

The Group's consolidated shareholders' equity increased to U.S.$6,208 million as of September 30, 2006 from U.S.$5,269 million as of December 31, 2005. In addition to net profit of U.S.$816 million, major changes in shareholders' equity included the effect of FX translation of U.S.$168 million, and declaration of dividends for 2005 in the amount of U.S.$64 million.

As of September 30, 2006 VTB Group's consolidated BIS Tier 1 capital was U.S.$5,853 million, compared to U.S.$4,927 million as of December 31, 2005, and total BIS capital was U.S.$6,597 million, compared to U.S. $5,898 million as of December 31, 2005.

Despite growth of capital in absolute terms, capital adequacy calculated in accordance with the Basle Capital Accord declined, reflecting the Group's expansion and growth in business volumes. BIS Tier 1+2 capital adequacy ratio decreased from 14.1% as of December 31, 2005 to 12.0% as of September 30, 2006. The capital adequacy ratio is well above the 8.0% minimum set by the Basle Accord.

VTB and its subsidiaries (VTB Group) are a leading Russian commercial banking group, offering a wide range of banking services and conducting operations in both Russian and international markets. As of September 30, 2006 the Group had a network of 158 branches, including 58 branches of VTB, 47 branches of VTB 24 and 53 branches of Industry and Construction Bank, located in major Russian regions.

Outside Russia, the Group operates through 4 subsidiaries located in the CIS (Armenia, Georgia, 2 banks in Ukraine), 7 subsidiaries located in Europe (Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Cyprus) and through 5 representative offices located in India, Italy, China, Byelorussia and Ukraine. VTB has also established subsidiaries in Africa and Asia, and through its UK subsidiary the Group is present in Singapore. VTB operates under a full banking license №1000 from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation since 1990. With 27,397 employees as of September 30, 2006, the Group operates in the commercial banking sector including deposit taking and commercial lending, support of clients' export/import transactions, FX, securities trading, and trading in derivative financial instruments. The Government of the Russian Federation is the main shareholder of VTB and owns through the Federal Property Management Agency 99.9% of its registered share capital. For more information please visit www.vtb.ru.

Certain information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of VTB. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that we cannot predict with certainty. Accordingly, our actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what we have expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. We do not intend to update these statements to make them conform with actual results.